Re: heart rates & recovery

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/18/98 10:56:54 AM Pacific Standard Time, byron@code-
co.com writes:

<< The conclusion that I have come to by my scientifically invalid sample of 2
 is that the time to recover back to a criteria HR is a fair indicater both
 of condition of my horse and the effect of over-working him. In other
 words, I have thought that his lenghth of time to recover to a criteria was
 a good indicater of his condition and overall recovery.
  >>

Your 2-rat study is quite repeatable among thousands of other "rats"--the same
result has been seen hundreds of thousands of times over the years, which is
why we DO use recovery rates heavily as an indicator...  Certainly there are
other valid parameters, so absolute recovery values and recovery rates are not
our ONLY windows into how a given horse is doing, but one of the most
revolutionary concepts in our sport was the gate-into-hold concept which
separates horses out by recovery rates.  That, coupled with a lowering of what
is considered to be an acceptable rate for continuing, in my opinion have been
the two most important things to lower death rates and increase post-ride
health of our endurance horses over the past several years.  Other ways of
looking at recovery, such as the CRI, have also made contributions.

Heidi Smith, DVM